Hüsamettin Şimşir | University of Notre Dame (original) (raw)
Drafts by Hüsamettin Şimşir
This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and Muslims in the ... more This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and
Muslims in the west of Asia Minor at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th
centuries after two religious-social movements in the Byzantine and the Rum Seljuk
Empires, the Arsenite Schism and the Babai Rebellion. After the unsuccessful rebellion of the Babais, antinomian dervishes who had migrated to the west of Asia Minor because of heavy oppression as well as inquisition by the state and had a different religious belief apart from the mainstream religious understanding of the center initiated missionary activities in the regions along the Byzantine border. Accordingly, these dervishes had joined the military activities of the Turcoman chieftains against the Byzantines and interacted with the local Christian population and religious figures. As a result of this religious interaction, messianic and ascetic beliefs were increasingly present among the Greek-speaking population as well as spiritual leaders of western Anatolia. Since such interfaith and cross-cultural interaction had a considerable impact on the course of all these events, this thesis focuses on them to create a better understanding of the appearance of the Hesychasm in the Byzantine spiritual environment in the later period.
Thesis Chapters by Hüsamettin Şimşir
This study of Ottoman Political expansion in the Balkans sheds light on the initial period of the... more This study of Ottoman Political expansion in the Balkans sheds light on the initial period of the mechanisms of the Ottoman social, cultural, economic, and political establishments in Northern and Central Greece. It examines not only the formation of two important frontier families, Evrenosoğulları and Turahanoğulları, in the target regions but also these families’ fluctuating relationships with the Ottoman central state structure. It argues that these frontier families spearheaded the initial Ottoman conquests in Greece, relying on accommodationist policies to acclimatize the local populations to Ottoman rule. They implemented a constructive policy with the local landholders, religious institutes, and military, political, and economic groups, incorporating them into their regional rules. While these families initially protected their semi-independent political rule, the Ottoman center significantly increased its central authority in frontier territories in the early to mid-fifteenth century. This resulted in a central-periphery conflict in the Ottoman Balkans, as a result of which the center was able to overcome the frontier lords, relying on several strategies including but not limited to the dissemination of the land tenure system in the lords’ areas of political activity.
This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and Muslims in the ... more This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and Muslims in the west of Asia Minor at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th centuries after two religious-social movements in the Byzantine and the Rum Seljuk Empires, the Arsenite Schism and the Babai Rebellion. After the unsuccessful rebellion of the Babais, antinomian dervishes who had migrated to the west of Asia Minor because of a heavy oppression as well as inquisition by the state and had a different religious belief apart from the mainstream religious understanding of the center initiated missionary activities in the regions along the Byzantine border. Accordingly, these dervishes had joined the military activities of the Turcoman chieftains against the Byzantines and interacted with the local Christian population and religious figures. As a result of this religious interaction, messianic and ascetic beliefs were increasingly present among the Greek-speaking population as well as spiritual leaders of western Anatolia. Since such interfaith and cross-cultural interaction had a considerable impact on the course of all these events, this thesis focuses on them to create a better understanding of the appearance of the Hesychasm in the Byzantine spiritual environment in the later period.
Papers by Hüsamettin Şimşir
Revista Chilena de Estudios Medievales, 2022
In this article, the introduction, dissemination, and proliferation of the gunpowder units in the... more In this article, the introduction, dissemination, and proliferation of the gunpowder units in the Ottoman military structure in the fifteenth century are discussed. It aims to bring an alternative approach to the effects of gunpowder technology on the relationship between the frontier lords and the Ottoman center in the Balkans. In this aspect, the performance of the Ottoman military organization in two different military encounters, the Battle of Varna and the Battle of Kosovo, is stressed. Then, the Ottoman acquisition of the advanced firearm units such as the war wagons is evaluated through the military interactions between the Hungarians and the Ottomans. Lastly, the effects of the transformation of the Ottoman military organization on the intra-domestic power structure in the Ottoman Balkans are discussed through the literature on the issue. In parallel with it, it is questioned whether it is possible to see the execution of a prominent frontier lord of the Evrenos family, Ali Bey in 1451 by Mehmed II as the sign of the shift of the power balance in the Ottoman Balkans.
Book Reviews by Hüsamettin Şimşir
This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and Muslims in the ... more This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and
Muslims in the west of Asia Minor at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th
centuries after two religious-social movements in the Byzantine and the Rum Seljuk
Empires, the Arsenite Schism and the Babai Rebellion. After the unsuccessful rebellion of the Babais, antinomian dervishes who had migrated to the west of Asia Minor because of heavy oppression as well as inquisition by the state and had a different religious belief apart from the mainstream religious understanding of the center initiated missionary activities in the regions along the Byzantine border. Accordingly, these dervishes had joined the military activities of the Turcoman chieftains against the Byzantines and interacted with the local Christian population and religious figures. As a result of this religious interaction, messianic and ascetic beliefs were increasingly present among the Greek-speaking population as well as spiritual leaders of western Anatolia. Since such interfaith and cross-cultural interaction had a considerable impact on the course of all these events, this thesis focuses on them to create a better understanding of the appearance of the Hesychasm in the Byzantine spiritual environment in the later period.
This study of Ottoman Political expansion in the Balkans sheds light on the initial period of the... more This study of Ottoman Political expansion in the Balkans sheds light on the initial period of the mechanisms of the Ottoman social, cultural, economic, and political establishments in Northern and Central Greece. It examines not only the formation of two important frontier families, Evrenosoğulları and Turahanoğulları, in the target regions but also these families’ fluctuating relationships with the Ottoman central state structure. It argues that these frontier families spearheaded the initial Ottoman conquests in Greece, relying on accommodationist policies to acclimatize the local populations to Ottoman rule. They implemented a constructive policy with the local landholders, religious institutes, and military, political, and economic groups, incorporating them into their regional rules. While these families initially protected their semi-independent political rule, the Ottoman center significantly increased its central authority in frontier territories in the early to mid-fifteenth century. This resulted in a central-periphery conflict in the Ottoman Balkans, as a result of which the center was able to overcome the frontier lords, relying on several strategies including but not limited to the dissemination of the land tenure system in the lords’ areas of political activity.
This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and Muslims in the ... more This thesis aims to present an analysis of the interaction between Christians and Muslims in the west of Asia Minor at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th centuries after two religious-social movements in the Byzantine and the Rum Seljuk Empires, the Arsenite Schism and the Babai Rebellion. After the unsuccessful rebellion of the Babais, antinomian dervishes who had migrated to the west of Asia Minor because of a heavy oppression as well as inquisition by the state and had a different religious belief apart from the mainstream religious understanding of the center initiated missionary activities in the regions along the Byzantine border. Accordingly, these dervishes had joined the military activities of the Turcoman chieftains against the Byzantines and interacted with the local Christian population and religious figures. As a result of this religious interaction, messianic and ascetic beliefs were increasingly present among the Greek-speaking population as well as spiritual leaders of western Anatolia. Since such interfaith and cross-cultural interaction had a considerable impact on the course of all these events, this thesis focuses on them to create a better understanding of the appearance of the Hesychasm in the Byzantine spiritual environment in the later period.
Revista Chilena de Estudios Medievales, 2022
In this article, the introduction, dissemination, and proliferation of the gunpowder units in the... more In this article, the introduction, dissemination, and proliferation of the gunpowder units in the Ottoman military structure in the fifteenth century are discussed. It aims to bring an alternative approach to the effects of gunpowder technology on the relationship between the frontier lords and the Ottoman center in the Balkans. In this aspect, the performance of the Ottoman military organization in two different military encounters, the Battle of Varna and the Battle of Kosovo, is stressed. Then, the Ottoman acquisition of the advanced firearm units such as the war wagons is evaluated through the military interactions between the Hungarians and the Ottomans. Lastly, the effects of the transformation of the Ottoman military organization on the intra-domestic power structure in the Ottoman Balkans are discussed through the literature on the issue. In parallel with it, it is questioned whether it is possible to see the execution of a prominent frontier lord of the Evrenos family, Ali Bey in 1451 by Mehmed II as the sign of the shift of the power balance in the Ottoman Balkans.